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Graduate English Program	Program requirements	Admissions
Careers in English	Course offerings

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Detailed Information

Program of Study

The Department offers a general Master of Arts program that allows for great flexibility. Students may take courses in English and American literature, multicultural literature, critical theory, women’s literature, rhetoric, and writing pedagogy. The program requires 30 semester credits: 12 credits of required courses, 15 credits of electives, and 3 credits for a master’s essay.

Research Facilities

The University has four libraries that contain more than 815,000 volumes and provide access to 88,000 electronic book titles. The libraries also have over 2,500 current subscriptions to periodicals and allow access to 32,000 electronic titles. In addition to reference and general collections, the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center houses a robust media collection, the Luxembourg Collection, the Celtic Collection (one of the most outstanding of its kind in the country), and a notable Chesterton-Belloc Collection. The Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library, the theology library, is strong in areas ancillary to the study of language and literature. Through Cooperating Libraries in Consortium (CLIC), the University has access to seven other local academic libraries giving access to over 2,000,000 volumes. The CLIC libraries jointly maintain an electronic catalog that can be accessed off campus. CLIC can also access the libraries in four Midwestern states through Minitex. The University also participates in international interlibrary loan systems.

Financial Aid

Three full-time and eight part-time fellowships are available for students of exceptional academic promise. The three full-time fellowships, renewable until completion of the degree, provide a tuition waiver and a stipend of $5000 per semester. Students holding full-time fellowships must ordinarily take three courses each semester and maintain a minimum 3.5 GPA. The eight part-time scholarships offer a tuition waiver for one course per semester until completion of the degree. The University of St. Thomas also administers two federal loan programs (Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans) and one Minnesota program (SELF). SELF is non-need based. These loan programs are open to full- and part-time students.

Cost of Study

Tuition for 2008–09 was $647 per credit for both in-state and out-of-state students. A health-care center provides services for minor illnesses free of charge. Students may purchase medical insurance through the University. Students with a valid ID may use all athletic and other facilities.

Living and Housing Costs

Off-campus housing is available within convenient walking distance of the campus.

Student Group

The Department enrolls 65 to 70 master’s degree students (full-time and part-time) each semester; the student body profile includes a wide range of ages, careers, and goals. Class enrollments are kept low to allow for close faculty-student interaction. Students are invited to participate fully in the intellectual and social life of the Department, which includes a colloquium series, academic conference presentations, and off-campus graduate events. Master’s students also have representation on the Graduate Committee.

Location

The metropolitan area of St. Paul and Minneapolis regularly ranks at or near the top of the lists of the most desirable cities in the country. The Twin Cities are the home of the renowned Guthrie Theater, two world-class orchestras, The Loft (one of the largest literary centers in the country), several museums, galleries, and more than 100 small, live theaters. Numerous lakes, parks, and recreational areas are within minutes of both downtowns.

The University and The Department

Founded in 1885, the University of St. Thomas is a comprehensive, coeducational, Catholic university. Inspired by Catholic intellectual tradition, the University of St. Thomas educates students to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely, and work skillfully for the common good. More than 10,500 students attend St. Thomas, with slightly more than half at the graduate level. Graduate programs emphasize the integration of theory with practice, enhance the professional competence and ethical judgments of their students, and foster both personal growth and an appreciation of lifelong learning.

The Department of English has 26 full-time faculty members. Two academic journals are edited by the English faculty members and published by the University of St. Thomas: LOGOS: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture and New Hibernia Review.

Applying

Requirements for admission are a bachelor’s degree, a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0, at least five courses beyond the first year or introductory level in language or literature (earning a grade of B or better), three letters of recommendation (at least one must be from a former professor), and a writing sample that demonstrates critical or analytical skills. The application fee is $50. Application deadlines are March 1 for the summer and fall and October 1 for the spring.

The Faculty

• Young-Ok An, Ph.D., USC. Romanticism, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literature, literary theory, postcolonialism and cultural critique.
• Matthew Batt, Ph.D., Utah. Creative nonfiction, prose writing.
• Heather Bouwman, Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Colonial and early American literature, Native American literature, poetry as genre, American poetry.
• Susan Callaway, Ph.D., Wisconsin–Milwaukee; Director, The Center for Writing. Composition theory and pedagogy, writing center theory and administration, writing across the curriculum.
• Kanishka Chowdhury, Ph.D., Purdue. Postcolonial literature and theory, world literature, cultural theory.
• Catherine Craft-Fairchild, Ph.D., Rochester. Restoration and eighteenth-century British literature, feminist theory, psychoanalysis and film theory, history of the novel.
• Alexis Easley, Ph.D., Oregon. Victorian studies, British literature, the novel, literary geography, new historicism, gender studies, media history, multicultural literatures, creative writing, composition theory/pedagogy.
• Carmela Garritano, Ph.D., Michigan State. Feminist and postcolonial theory, African and Third World literature and film.
• (John) Chris Hallman, M.F.A., Iowa; M.A., Johns Hopkins. Creative nonfiction, prose writing.
• Michael C. Jordan, Ph.D., North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Comparative literature, literary theory, Classical Greek literature, philosophical anthropology, history and theory of liberal education.
• Paul Lai, M.A., North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Asian American literature, transnational feminist studies, cultural studies.
• Kelli Larson, Ph.D., Michigan State. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century and modern American literature.
• (David) Todd Lawrence, Ph.D., Missouri–Columbia. African-American literature and culture, African diasporic studies, folklore and folkloristics, the Black Arts Movement.
• Juan Li, Ph.D., Washington (Seattle). Discourse theory and analysis, linguistics and English language study, language and ideology, rhetoric and stylistics.
• Raymond MacKenzie, Ph.D., Kansas State. Milton, Nineteenth- and twentieth-century British literature, literary criticism.
• Michael Mikolajczak, Ph.D., Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British literature, Shakespeare, Milton, religion and literature, rhetoric.
• Leslie Adrienne Miller, Ph.D., Texas at Houston. Contemporary American poetry, rhetorical theory and criticism, British romanticism, medieval literature.
• Amy Muse, Ph.D., Auburn. Drama, theater and revolutionary movements, Romanticism, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature and theater culture, writing and civic education.
• Lon Otto, Ph.D., Indiana. Creative writing, novel since World War II, modern poetry, short story, travel writing, Faulkner.
• Joan Piorkowski, Ph.D., Temple. Eighteenth-century British and Gothic literature, basic writing.
• Brenda J. Powell, Ph.D., North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Literature by women, mythology, classical literature, multicultural literature.
• Thomas Dillon Redshaw, Ph.D., NYU; Senior Fellow, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University (Belfast). Modern and contemporary Irish literature, British literature between the wars, seventeenth-century British literature.
• Andrew Scheiber, Ph.D., Michigan State; Department Chair. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature, literary criticism, literature and linguistics, women’s studies, history of the novel, African-American literature.
• Erika Scheurer, Ph.D., Massachusetts Amherst. Composition theory and pedagogy, Dickinson.
• Martin Warren, Ph.D., Minnesota. Medieval literature, religion and literature, linguistics, hypertext and literacy.

Correspondence and Information

University of St. Thomas
Dr. Catherine Craft-Fairchild
Director of Graduate Studies in English
Department of English
Mail #JRC 333
2115 Summit Avenue
St. Paul, Minnesota 55105
Telephone: 651-962-5628
800-328-6819 Ext. 2-5628 (toll-free)
Fax: 651-962-5623
Email: gradenglish@stthomas.edu